


Geppetto’s Dream

by Candyoranges



Series: Pinocchio & Geppetto [1]
Category: Eureka (TV)
Genre: Artificial Intelligence, Episode: s01e08 Right as Raynes, Father-Son Relationship, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-22
Updated: 2020-01-22
Packaged: 2021-02-27 10:53:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,087
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22355944
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Candyoranges/pseuds/Candyoranges
Summary: Nathan had been back in Eureka for several days before he discovered that Fargo, of all people, had decided to follow in his footsteps in the field of Artificial Intelligence. This invoked a very mixed set of feelings.
Series: Pinocchio & Geppetto [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1609417
Comments: 12
Kudos: 33





	Geppetto’s Dream

**Author's Note:**

  * For [I_kill_Zombies](https://archiveofourown.org/users/I_kill_Zombies/gifts), [shadowolfhunter](https://archiveofourown.org/users/shadowolfhunter/gifts).



> Inspired by a comment thread about Nathan and his A.I.s left in Catching On.

Nathan had been back in Eureka for several days, catching up on all the projects that had been both generated and terminated in his absence, before he discovered that Fargo, of all people, had decided to follow in his footsteps. Not only had the younger man decided to dabble in Artificial Intelligence, he had used Nathan’s own B.R.A.D. program for the building blocks. 

In his office where he’d been pouring over files all evening, Nathan leaned back in his chair and stared out the vast window at the darkened atrium. He had known intellectually when he had burned down his lab all those years ago and turned to other fields of science that someone else might continue his work, but he hadn’t expected to see it so soon. He wasn’t quite sure what to feel about it, honestly. He had loved the field, had had dreams of the soaring heights that could be achieved during his lifetime. Then he had built Callister, and Callister was...

Callister was a miracle. 

He _was_ the soaring heights that Nathan had dreamed of as a younger man. He had been fully sentient, with his own feelings and the ability to create human bonds. And yet, Nathan had never been able to replicate the achievement. Then later, once he had realized the danger his ~~_son_~~ assistant could face, and the evils for which he could be twisted and repurposed, Nathan had done his best to destroy the whole project. Had sworn to never so carelessly create a life that he would not be able to protect.

But now Fargo had done so, at least in a sense. S.A.R.A.H. was not, after all, in the same league as his ~~_son_~~ assistant. It was one of the things that tormented Nathan now whenever he heard about new A.I. research. He still remembered his dreams for the field, even had a new dream to one day live in a world where Callister’s secret could be publicly known and still find acceptance, but he also couldn’t countenance the idea of an A.I. that surpassed Callister.

Forcefully, he turned back to his monitors, searching through the available data on Fargo’s research. S.A.R.A.H. appeared to be perfectly adequate – able to anticipate and preemptively respond within mission parameters. Truthfully, if Nathan had never experienced the marvel of Callister’s creation, he might have been impressed with Fargo’s work and S.A.R.A.H.’s level of autonomy. (Although much of S.A.R.A.H.’s base structure did come from Nathan’s codes for B.R.A.D.)

Having finished reading through how Fargo had adapted B.R.A.D.’s code for S.A.R.A.H.’s use, Nathan turned away once again, then rose to begin pacing around his office. It was painful for him now to look at the base code for B.R.A.D., knowing he was the exact sort of military project that Nathan had later worked so hard to prevent Callister from becoming. And to see that Fargo had taken the roots of B.R.A.D. – the military interrogation program that Nathan now so regretted – and had created a residential A.I., one whose purpose was solely to protect and care for her inhabitants. Well, Nathan had never expected to feel so proud and jealous of _Fargo_.

~/~

It took another two days to find out the rest of the story – that Fargo had found someone to live in his Smart House and it was none other than the annoying sheriff and his daughter. Nathan’s first reaction was shock that Fargo had managed to find someone even more gullible than himself (and didn’t that bode horribly for the sheriff’s department).

Nevertheless, he couldn’t help but keep his ear tuned in to any mention of the fledgling A.I., and slowly he noticed a pattern. From the very beginning, the Carters and Fargo had both called S.A.R.A.H. “she,” even when Allison and the rest of the town – even Henry – referred to the program as “it” when not using the acronym. Yet slowly the usage spread, starting with those who interreacted most regularly with the Carters, such as Deputy Lupo. What a small but amazing difference it was, the use of a pronoun to indicate personhood and sentience.

He also listened to the stories Carter told and the way he answered phone calls from S.A.R.A.H. (Nathan would never admit to how frequently he eavesdropped on Carter, but his curiosity flickered like an unquenchable flame.) The sheriff would scurry out of an evening meeting saying that S.A.R.A.H. expected him home. He’d pass on dinner with Henry at Café Diem with the sighed explanation that S.A.R.A.H. had a pot roast waiting. He’d gleefully describe to Allison the parental controls S.A.R.A.H. was helping him enforce on his daughter (and would later whine about how S.A.R.A.H. had been bribed into reneging on her duties.) Even when Carter complained about cold showers, unset alarms, and burnt dinners, or bemoaned “being lectured by his house,” he never seemed to treat her desires as unimportant (unreasonable perhaps, but never unimportant). 

In fact, Carter most frequently responded to S.A.R.A.H. like a loving but long-suffering spouse, an attitude further enhanced by his oft-repeated refrain of how living with S.A.R.A.H. was like “being married without all the fun parts,” (which did rather make him wonder about the sheriff’s former marriage).

~/~

In this fashion the weeks passed, and Nathan continued to watch and listen, even as he outwardly argued with Carter every time they were forced to work together.

Then Callister came back, infected with a virus that was slowly killing him, and Nathan found himself staring into the eyes of the son he didn’t know how to save, desperate but more afraid for Callister’s safety than ever. Frantically, he tried everything he could imagine, only to fail again and again.

In that moment, he thought of the fond look of wry amusement on Carter’s face when he spoke of S.A.R.A.H.’s antics. He thought of the terror in Carter’s eyes whenever Zoe was in danger. He thought of the off-the-wall suggestions Carter made that became life-saving solutions. He considered all those things – and he decided to make a call _(and pray for another miracle)_.


End file.
